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Health Care Resources and Mental Health Service Use Among Suicidal Adolescents

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Abstract

Developing policies and interventions that increase rates of mental health service use for suicidal adolescents is crucial for suicide prevention. Data from a sample of suicidal youth (n = 1356) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were analyzed to examine whether type of insurance, receipt of routine medical care, and access to school-based mental health treatment predicted mental health service use cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Rates of mental health service use were low in cross-sectional analyses at all three waves (∼11%–30%), despite the fact that respondents were at high risk for suicide attempts and depression. With demographic factors and symptom severity controlled, only receipt of a routine physical predicted an increased likelihood of mental health service use at wave I and in longitudinal analyses. Implications discussed include the utility of universal suicide screenings and integrated behavioral health care as potential intervention strategies for this population.

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Notes

  1. Weighted percentages

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Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Mary LeCloux MSW, PhD

  2. School of Social Work, Simmons College, Boston, MA, USA

    Peter Maramaldi MPH, PhD & Kristie Thomas MSW, PhD

  3. Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Peter Maramaldi MPH, PhD

  4. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Peter Maramaldi MPH, PhD & Kristie Thomas MSW, PhD

  5. Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth Wharff PhD, MSW

  6. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth Wharff PhD, MSW

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  1. Mary LeCloux MSW, PhD
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Correspondence to Mary LeCloux MSW, PhD.

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LeCloux, M., Maramaldi, P., Thomas, K. et al. Health Care Resources and Mental Health Service Use Among Suicidal Adolescents. J Behav Health Serv Res 44, 195–212 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-016-9509-8

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